Texts in Conversation
In Genesis 16, Sarai gives the slave Hagar to Abram which eventually leads to Hagar's oppression. This echoes the narrative of Genesis 3 where Eve gives the fruit to Adam, eventually leading to the curses on creation.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 3:6
Hebrew Bible
5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Genesis 16:3
Hebrew Bible
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, but she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from having children, please sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” Abram did what Sarai told him. 3 So after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. Once Hagar realized she was pregnant, she despised Sarai.
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Notes and References
"... A close look at the narrative intertextuality between the polygamous rela tionship of Abram with Sarai and Hagar and the fall narrative in Gen 3 is instruc tive. There are strong verbal parallels between Genesis 16:2-3 and 3:6, 16. In the garden of Eden, the woman "took" the fruit and "gave" it to her husband (3:6); so Sarai "took" Hagar and "gave" her to her husband (Genesis 16:3). The same Hebrew words are used in the same order. Again, Adam "listened to the voice of" his wife (Genesis 3:17); so Abram "listened to the voice of" his wife, Sarai (Genesis 16:2). Again identical Hebrew ex pressions are employed. These verbal parallels may well constitute intentional intertextual echoes on the part of the narrator to indicate that Abram and Sarai in the Hagar scandal fell even as Adam and Eve fell in Eden ..."
Davidson, Richard M.
Flame of Yahweh: Sexuality in the Old Testament
(p. 185) Hendrickson Publishers, 2007
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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